Homebrew Blogs

Beers

Update: 10/7/17

If you’re looking for my recipes, please check out my profile on BrewToad. It’s a free homebrew resource that I use to collect and share my recipes. Below is the page that I had been maintaining, but due to lack of time will not be updating.

2015

Saison D’Etre/Cold Day Pils [January 10, 2015]- this was the first 10 gallon batch I’ve ever done; bittered with Saaz hops, the only difference between these two beers was the yeast (and subsequent fermentation and conditioning). The saison came out great. The pilsner was drinkable but suffered from flaws/off-flavors due to my inexperience with lagering.

Saison D’Etre

Uncommon Wrath [March 9, 2015] – My long-standing battle with amber ales started to turn in my favor. The previous version was never carbonated as I felt the brew day was shitty and decided it wasn’t worth the effort. This version did make it to primetime and was pleasant if a little underwhelming.

Bad Jackson Brown[March 10, 2015] – A hefty brown ale for the tail end of a brutal winter. Big fuller-bodied brown ale, but still sessionable (ish) at 5.8% with lots of flavor of roast and chocolate. This was a dialed-up version of Arctos and took second place in a club competition.

The Hustler [May 9, 2015] – The other theater of my war on two fronts is against brewing a good IPA. The Hustler followed in Bandito’s footsteps (literally and figuratively), in a march towards winning this war. A “New England” IPA with lots of citrus aroma, but a little too light on the bitterness to be a full-blown IPA.

Symphony of Decay [August 17, 2015] – A rebrew of my club competition winning pumpkin ale recipe. This is the first beer I brewed three times, and I expect 2016 to have a version as well.

Matt Brown Marzen [] – A rebrew for September/October.

Headless Horseman [September 4, 2015] – This is where I truly lost my mind. A pumpkin milk stout?! It was actually quite tasty, but faired terribly in the club competition because no one quite knew what to make of it. This recipe will be shelved until I can get a nitro line, but overall a pleasantly sweet stout without any roast and a lot of pumpkin flavor.

Headless Horseman

Christmas Carroll v2[December 6, 2015] – A perfectly cromulent spiced ale, but not too different from the previous iteration.

2016

Carcosa [January 28, 2016] – An imperial stout aged on vanilla beans, cocoa nibs, and bourbon-soaked oak chips. This was a 10 gallon batch, split for two different aging times. The first five gallons conditioned for only about 1-2 months. The second five gallons will sit for about 6-8 months, depending on my first. I was incredibly pleased with how this turned out. BIG flavors and they all seemed to work in harmony. A bit of roast/smokiness started to develop in the first five gallons after 4 months.

Carcosa

Uncommon Wrath v2016 [February 1, 2016 and April 9, 2016] – Our long national nightmare has come to an end. I rebrewed the now infamous amber ale with an improved recipe. I received from further tips from a pro brewer and the final version (April 9’s) was entered in a competition, where it received the second highest score but failed to make the Best of Show round due to the competition structure. Nevertheless, I am exceedingly proud of how this beer (finally) turned out.

Uncommon Wrath

IPA #1 aka Eighty-Sixed [April 17, 2016] – We’ve finally turned this franchise around, team! After now years of struggling with IPAs (and Ambers), this one finally hit the mark. A new recipe – born from fiddling with some older ones – birthed this Citra dry-hopped citrus bomb. A true New England style IPA that doesn’t lack the bitter bite. It’s still new/fresh as of this writing.

Eighty-Sixed

IPA #2 aka Hustle Harder [May 9, 2016] – A variation on The Hustler, this was brewed with FWH Nugget and fermented with White Labs’ Yeast Vault WLP075. It should be a more West Coast style IPA.